TT Player Ratings January 19

Marcus Arscott – @MarcusArscott

“Asa has been instrumental to our successes this season and provides a cool, level-headed presence in the middle of the field”

Marcus discusses January’s performances from Gary Johnsons’s team and reveals our sixth ‘TT Player of the Month’ for 18-19:

No. Name and January TT Rating

TT PLAYER OF THE MONTH

1) Asa Hall – 8.1

TT’s coveted Player of The Month award goes to club captain and on-pitch leader Asa Hall. Asa has been instrumental to our successes this season and provides a cool, level-headed presence in the middle of the field; his experience and know-how obviously helping and guiding the rest of the young squad. His passing has been superb and he pulls off plenty of defensive interceptions to protect the back four. In case anyone hasn’t noticed, he’s chipped in with a few goals as well. Joseph Pope was so impressed with his performance against Slough that he awarded him a perfect 10/10 rating. Well done Asa, long may it continue.

Man of the Match – Slough and Bath

2) Jamie Reid – 7.8

Jamie has been improving exponentially since the arrival of Gary Johnson and the gaffer’s implementation of fast, attacking football. Gary (now famously) said to him upon his arrival ‘I don’t want you in the middle of moves, I want you on the end of them’. Those words have obviously inspired Jamie, and he has since become the top scorer for the National League South with 21 goals so far. He’s a player who will always give 100% no matter what, and it’s nice to see Jamie reap the rewards for his efforts. Another good month for the local lad and, thanks to him signing a new contract, hopefully many more to come.

Man of the Match – Truro

3) Saikou Janneh – 7.3

Saikou joined us on loan in late September of last year and the yellow army instantly took a liking to him. He has everything a striker at this level needs; pace, skill, strength and an eye for a goal or assist. His partnership with Reid has blossomed and it is a key factor in our push for the league title. His point-blank range miss at Bath was a disappointment, but it is very easy to forget that Saikou had only turned 19 a couple of weeks ago and is liable to make the odd mistake here or there. I don’t think many people will be surprised if he’s playing at a much higher level in a few years’ time.

Oxford City Jan 19

4) Liam Davis – 7.1

Shock horror, Liam Davis makes it in to the top-5 again. Seriously, he is a quality player and much like Asa, brings a level of experience and know-how to the squad when the going gets tough. His attacking play has been excellent recently, and he seems to have struck up a good link with Jake Andrews. Defensively he’s been as solid as ever, always tracking his man and he put in a couple of perfect sliding tackles against Oxford on Saturday. Liam is the ideal full-back and I would be very surprised if he finds himself out of the top 10 this season.

5) Ben Wynter – 7.0

Another player who has greatly improved under Johnson is Wynts. Much like Liam, his attacking play has been increasingly important and Ben’s crossing has been improving massively. He bagged himself a 9/10 vs Slough and an 8/10 vs Oxford City and is becoming more important in attacking build ups. He is still young and will be the first to admit that he has plenty still to learn, but I for one am glad that he’s chosen to do it here. Here’s a mark of this rapid improvement; I wrote in my match verdict for the WSM game a paragraph questioning whether he was good enough for this side and whether he had the qualities required to take us forward. Well I am very glad to have been proved wrong and I can’t see anyone saying anything similar in the future.

6) Kyle Cameron – 7.0

‘Mr Dependable’ makes it to 6th in our list with a commendable average of 7/10. Kyle rarely puts a foot wrong and that consistency has carried on through-out January. He is a no-nonsense, vocal leader at the back who rarely lets anything get past him. I feel that he is the Sine Qua Non of our defensive record and as I mentioned in my match verdict vs Oxford City, if there is a better centre-back in this league then I’d like to know who it is. Another good month for the big man.

Bath Jan 19

7) Kalvin Lumbombo-Kalala – 7.0

Whilst sometimes inconsistent *cough* Bath *cough*, when Kalala is on form he is one of the most exciting players that we’ve seen at Plainmoor for a while. At his best when Kalvin’s on the ball and making a run at defenders, he has the ability to go past them like they’re invisible. Rachel Malloch says that she very nearly gave him MOTM vs Truro on New Year’s Day. He does have a slight tendency to become anonymous and can get lost in the pace of the game, but is surely a player worth persevering with. His contract has been extended to next season, so watch this space.

8) Connor Lemonheigh-Evans – 6.9

Matty Hayward mentioned in the December TT ratings, that Connor seems to get low(er) ratings because the fans expect so much from him. I agree and feel that everyone knows what he’s capable of and that when he’s on his game, he’s probably the best player in this league. When he falls short however, it is very easy for fans to dismiss his performance as underwhelming and he probably does too. It is also easy for a lot of his work to go under the radar. Similar to Asa Hall, people don’t tend to notice him so much because he’ll make a good interception or tackle and distribute the ball to the wingers or strikers. It all happens very quickly and is easily missed, but the role that he plays in the middle of the field cannot be understated. A very important player indeed, and he will continue to be for the rest of the season.

9) Jake Andrews – 6.8

Now, I’m not going to spend this whole paragraph talking about thatgame at Bath, because it’s all been said before and he even made a public apology on Twitter afterwards. I didn’t believe this to be necessary, but it shows the character and the passion that Jake exhibits when he puts on that shirt. I’d much rather talk about his performance vs Oxford City, where he scored a hat-trick and put in what has got to be one of the best performances of his career. That response shows the morale and the character of not only him, but the squad as a whole. The midfielder’s finishing (Bath apart) has been excellent, his link-up play with Liam Davis has been top-notch – and it turns out that he can also score directly from a corner. What’s not to like?

Man of the Match – Oxford City

10) Shaun MacDonald – 6.5

All of Shaun’s ratings of late have said broadly the same thing; ‘Steady, reliable performance, didn’t have much to do, distribution was good’. Now, for a winning team this is perfect. It shows that the players in front of him are doing their jobs and it illustrates that when he is called into action, he deals with it with very little fuss. Sam Druiff mentioned that, whilst 3 goals went in against him at the match with Bath, there really wasn’t much he could do about them. He is our reliable and dependable no. 1, and will be for some time.

The Rest

11) Jamie Sendles-White 6.3

12) Ruairi Keating 6.3

13) Opi Edwards 6.0

Slough Jan 19

Do you agree with TorquayTalk? Make your choice of Player of the Month below:

NOTES:

1) TT Rating is the average of the ratings (out of 10) from the TT Match Verdicts2) Players only included if they have been rated in 50% or more of TUFC games3) Players only rated in games if they have played more than 10 minutes